STERLING, VA - FEBRUARY 19: In this handout photo provided by CBS News, Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum appears on "Face the Nation" from a remote location in a hotel February 19, 2012 in Sterling, Virginia. (Photo by Chris Usher/CBS News via Getty Images)

Photo: Handout, Getty Images

STERLING, VA - FEBRUARY 19: In this handout photo provided by CBS...

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Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is seen on a screen during a campaign stop at the Christ Redeemer Church, Sunday, Feb. 19, 2012, in Cumming, Georgia. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Pastor Richard Lee, right, prays with Rick Santorum, his wife Karen, and three of their children, from left, John, Sarah Maria and Daniel, at the conclusion of Santorum's address during a "God and Country" rally at First Redeemer Church in Cumming, Ga. Sunday, Feb. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Curtis Compton) MARIETTA DAILY OUT; GWINNETT DAILY POST OUT

Photo: Curtis Compton, Associated Press

Pastor Richard Lee, right, prays with Rick Santorum, his wife...

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Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum holds a copy of the U.S. Constitution as speaks during a campaign stop at the Christ Redeemer Church, Sunday, Feb. 19, 2012, in Cumming, Ga. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

"The bottom line is that a lot of prenatal tests are done to identify deformities in utero and the customary procedure is to encourage abortions," Santorum said on CBS' "Face the Nation." He said he was talking specifically about some prenatal testing, and not about prenatal care in general.

"There are all sorts of prenatal testing which should be provided free," Santorum said. "I have no problem with that if the insurance companies want to. I'm not for any of these things to be forced."

The former senator from Pennsylvania singled out amniocentesis, a procedure in which amniotic fluid is extracted to examine chromosomes and check for birth defects, as a form of testing that insurance companies should not be required to cover.

"Amniocentesis does, in fact, result more often than not in this country in abortions," Santorum said. "That is a fact."

He said people have the right to have prenatal testing done, "but to have the government force people to provide it free, to me, is a bit loaded."

"Well, the president supported partial-birth abortion, and partial-birth abortion is a procedure used almost exclusively to kill children late in pregnancy when they've been found out to be disabled," Santorum said.

He added: "The president has a very bad record on the issue of abortion and children who are disabled who are in the womb."

Santorum also said he accepts that Obama is a Christian and was not questioning his faith when he said at a campaign appearance Saturday that Obama supports a "phony theology, not a theology based on the Bible."

He said he was talking about "radical environmentalists" who share Obama's "worldview that elevates the Earth above man and says that we can't take those resources, because we're going to harm the Earth by things that frankly are just not scientifically proven." He pointed to the debate over global climate change as an example.

Santorum added, "This is just all an attempt to centralize power and to give more power to the government."

Obama's campaign officials said Santorum's remarks were another attack on the president's faith by Republican rivals in a nominating contest that has grown increasingly bitter and negative.